Pile fabric



27, 1949 G. J. UNDERWOOD FILE FABRIC 1 Filed Nov. 10, 19

,PRIOR ART+FAJFB+C Patented 27, 1949 FILE FABRIC Garfield J. Underwood, Amsterdam, N. Y., assignor to Mohawk Carpet Mills, Inc., Amsterdam, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 10, 1948, Serial No. 59,254

Claim.

This invention relates to pile fabrics employed for floor coverings and woven with stuffer warp yarns which lie in one or more levels in the backing or body of the fabric and impart to it such rigidity that it will lie flat and not rise in wrinkles or folds, when it is walked upon. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a novel pile fabric of the stuffer warp construction, which is superior to such fabrics as now made, in that it can be woven in uniform width and with a uniform pitch distance,that is, spacing between longitudinal rows of loops or tufts. Also the new fabric can be woven at less cost than prior fabrics of like quality and it is impossible for the weaver to produce the new fabric in inferior grades, from which part of the stufl'er warp yarns are omitted, unless he is extraordinarily negligent.

One common variety of pile fabric employed for floor coverings includes stuiler warp yarns in a central level in the body of the fabric, weft threads lying above and below the stufler warp yarns and bound in place by fine chain binder warps, and pile tufts looped about weft threads in the level above the stuffer warp yarns. In such a fabric, it is the usual practice to employ a plurality of stuifer warp yarns in each space beneath a longitudinal row of tufts and between ad- Jacent binder warps. A frequently used construction includes four stufier warp yarns in each such space and the stuiIer warp yarns are relatively wiry and stiff and may be made, for example, of jute. The four yarns in such a group pass through a single dent in the reed of the loom and, if the four yarns lay side by side horizontally in the fabric with the bights of the tuft loops lying in contact with the upper surface of each group, the fabric would be of uniform width and the pitch distance would be uniform. Also each pile loop or tuft would contain the same length of yarn, so that all the tufts would be equally well bound in place.

In the actual production of pile fabrics containing a plurality of stufier warp yarns in each pitch space, it has been found that the stuffer yarns do not lie side by side in a horizontal plane in the fabric, but, instead, pile up in various random arrangements, as they are squeezed to gether by the tension on the weft threads. Thus, in a fabric woven with four stuffer warp yarns per reed dent, the stufi'er warps in some groups may lie flat. while in other groups, one or more yarns may lie at a higher level than the others. In the latter cases, the fine chain binder warps on either side of the group of stuffer yarns lie closer 2 together than those separated by stufler yarns all lying in a plane. Also, when the pile is made of tufts, for example, looped about weft threads in the level above the stufler warps and lying with their bights in contact with stuffer warps, those tufts, which rest upon stufler warps piled up, contain less yarn than those resting upon stufler warps lying in a plane. Such short length'tui'ts are readily pulled out of the fabric in service and are thus weak points in the pile.

The invention is directed to the provision of a stufl'er warp type of pile fabric, which is free of the objectionable features of prior fabrics. In the new fabric, each group of stufl'er warps ordinarily supplied through a single dent in the reed and lying beneath a longitudinal row of pile tufts or loops is replaced by what may be termed,

for convenience, a stuffer warp ribbon. Such a ribbon is preferably a stiff fiat strand of fibrous material wider than it is thick and made, for example, of a strip of heavy paper folded upon itself longitudinally a number of times and held in folded form by a suitable adhesive. Such a ribbon has about the thickness of a single stuffer warp yarn and a width equal to that of the group of stuifer warps lying side by side in a plane, that the ribbon is to replace. In the weaving of the new fabric, the stuffer warp ribbons are manipulated in the same manner as groups of stuifer warps, but lie flat and in a plane through the body of the fabric. As the ribbons are of uniform width, the overall width of the fabric depends upon the number of ribbons used and there is no drawing-in of the fabric, as is now commonly the case. The use of the stuifer warp ribbons has various other advantages to be pointed out in the following detailed description.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view through a typical stuffer warp pile fabric of the prior art;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of one form of the new fabric on the line 22 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fabric on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of another form of the new fabric on the line 44 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one form of centered thereby.

The fabric illustrated in Fig. 1 is a typical,

stufler warp fabric as now made and it includes stuifer warp yarns l0, weft threads II, I! in upper and lower levels above and below the stuffer warps, pile tufts l3 looped about stufler warps in the upper level, and two sets of fine chain binder warps H, l5 crossing over and under the weft threads in the upper and lower levels and binding them against the stufier warps. The stuifer warps are of heavy jute yarn and are inserted in groups of four, so that four stuffer warps are supplied through each dent of the reed and lie between adjacent pairs of fine chains and beneath the pile tufts in each longitudinal row in the fabric. The stuifer warp yarns sometimes lie flat and in a plane like the yarns in the space C. but, more frequently, the yarns pile up in various random arrangements, as in the spaces A, B, D, and E. Such piling up of the stufler warps is caused by the drawing-in action of the weft threads inserted under tension and it results in a narrowing of the fabric, so that, in order to produce a fabric, which is, for example, 2'7" in width, it is necessary to use a number of groups of stuifer warps, which, in the reed, where they lie flat and side by side, have a total width of 28 /2" to 29".

Another disadvantage of the piling up of the stuifer warps in a fabric, as shown in Fig. 1, is that tufts, such as those designated I31) and id, the bights of which rest upon piled up stuffer warps, contain less yarn than tufts l3c, the bights of which rest upon stuffer warps lying in a plane. Such short tufts l3b and B11 are more easily scuffed loose during the use of the fabric than the longer tufts I3c-and their loss reduces the wearing qualities of the pile.

In the new fabric, each group of stufl'er warps heretofore used is replaced by a stuffer warp ribbon, such as that shown in Fig. 6 and designated l6. Such a ribbon preferably has a thickness about equal to the diameter of a stufler warp yarn and a width equal to a number of times that diameter, as, for example, the ribbon may be about /8" wide and a thickness of about 1". The ribbon shown is approximately rectangular in section, but that is not essential, although it is preferred that the ribbon have a greater dimension horizontally than vertically. The dimensions of the ribbon used in any particular fabric will depend on the pitch distance and on the stiffness that it is desired that the ribbon will have. The ribbon may be made of a su table plastic material, but a ribbon made of a heavy paper folded longitudinally upon itself a number of times, as shown in Fig. 6, and held in folded condition by a stiffening adhesive, such as a dextrin adhesive, is equally satisfactory and less expensive.

A typical form of the new fabric of the same weave as that shown in Fig. 1 is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. The new fabric includes a plurality of stuifer warp ribbons I 6 lying flat between weft threads l1, l8 in upper and lower levels, two sets of binder warps I9, 20 binding the weft threads against the ribbons, and pile yarns 2| looped about weft threads l1. Pairs of the binder warps lie between adjacent ribbons and the bight of each pile loop rests upon the wide upper face of a ribbon.

The stuifer warp ribbons are supplied from a beam, on which they are wound flat, and they pass from the beam through the reed and heddle eyes without twisting, so that they lie side by side and in a plane in the fabric. The tops of the ribbons thus provide a flat surface across the fabric, on which the bights of the pile yarns rest,

so that the legs of all the tufts'contain the same length of yarn and are all bound equally well in 5 the fabric.

In the weaving of pile warp fabrics containing a plurality of stuifer warp yarns, the pile warp yarns are raised over wires and, if the stutter warps are piled up, as shown in Fig. 1, the wires, during their insertion, occasionally cut the top stuffer warps. Also, during the production of all fabrics containing stuffer warp yarns, those yarns break from time to time. If broken stufler warp yarns, however caused, are not tied by the weaver because of carelessness, the weaving of the fabric can proceed and the fabric is likely to be unchanged in appearance, but it will be short in weight and cannot be sold as top quality. The stuffer warp ribbons are much stronger than individual stufler warp yarns, so that they are less liable to break under tension, and, since they lie flat, they are not iniured by the wires being inserted. Also, if a stufier warp ribbon breaks and the ends are not secured together by the weaver, the absence of such a ribbon is immediately apparent in the face of the goods, so that the weaver is promptly reminded that a ribbon is missing. The connection between ends of a broken ribbon may be made by overlapping short portions of the ends and connecting them by adhesive, so that such a repair may be quickly made and does not make an objectionable bulge in the fabric.

The fabric shown in'Figs. 4 and 5 is another typical weave, in which stuffer warp ribbons may be advantageously used. The fabric is a three shot Axminster and contains stuffer warp ribbons 22 in a lower plane, weft shots 23, 24, 28 in upper, central, and lower levels, stufler warp yarns 26 between the upper and central weft shots, pile yarns 2'1 looped about the central weft shots, and a single set of binder warps binding the weft shots in place. In this fabric, the l0oping of the pile yarns about the weft shots in the central level makes it impossible to use the stui'fer warp ribbons between the upper and central weft shots, but, if the pile yarns are loo ed about weft shots in the upper level, the stuffer warp yarns 26 may be replaced by ribbons similar to ribbons 22.

The stuffer warp ribbons l6 and 22 have wide flat top and bottom surfaces, but it may be advantageous to form the ribbons with a slight transverse curvature. When such a curved ribbon 29 is used. it is inserted with its concave surface up and the concavity tends to center the pile yarns 30 in a longitudinal row resting upon the ribbon. Such centering action leads to greater uniformity in pitch distance in the fabric.

The use of the stufier warp ribbons in place of groups of stuffer warp yarns affords advantages additional to those pointed out above, as follows: The cost of a single ribbon is less than that of the group of stufler warp yarns that it replaces a because of the lower cost of the ribbons and of the lower labor charges -involved, but also because less material is required to make a fabric of a given width.

I claim:

1. A pile fabric, which comprises a plurality of stuffer warp ribbons, weft threads in levels above and below the ribbons, pile yarns looped about weft yarns and raised above the level of the upper weft threads to produce a pile surface, the pile yarn loops lying in longitudinal rows, each ribbon lying beneath a single such row with the bights of the loops in the row resting upon the top surface of the ribbon, and binder warps crossing over and under the weft threads to bind them against the ribbons'and lying between each two adjacent ribbons, the ribbons being formed of a relatively stifi material, which is relatively nondeformable in cross-section, and being longer horizontally than vertically in cross-section.

2. A pile fabric, which comprises a plurality of stuffer warp ribbons lying side by side in a plane,

weft threads in levels above and below the ribbons in contact with opposite faces thereof, pile yarns looped about weft threads in the upper level and raised between adjacent weft threads in that level to produce a pile surface, the loops of pile yarn lying in longitudinal-rows, each ribbon lying beneath a single such row with the bights of the loops in the row resting upon the top surface of the ribbon, and binder warps crossing over and under the weft threads to bind them against the ribbons and lying between each two adjacent ribbons, the ribbons being formed of a relatively stiff material, which is relatively non-deformable in cross-section, and being longer horizontally than vertically in cross-section,

3. A pile fabric, which comprises a plurality of stuffer warp ribbons lying side by side in a plane, weft threads in levels above and below the ribbons in contact with opposite faces thereof, pile yarns looped about weft threads in the upper level and raised between adjacent weft threads in that level to produce a pile surface. the pile yarn loops lying in longitudinal rows, each ribbon lying beneath a single such row with the bights of the loops in the row resting upon the top surface of the ribbon, and a pair of sets of binder warps, the binder warps of each set crossing over and under alternate weft threads above and below the ribbons to bind said threads in place, a pair of fine chains made up of one from each set lying in each space between each two adjacent ribbons, the ribbons being formed of a relatively stifl' fibrous material, which is relatively non-deformable in cross-section, and being longer horizontally than vertically.

4. A pile fabric, which comprises a plurality of stuffer warp ribbons, weft threads in levels above and below the ribbons, pile yarns looped about weft yarns and raised above the level of the upper weft threads to produce a pile surface, the pile yarn loops lying in longitudinal rows, each ribbon lying beneath a single such row with the bights of the loops in the row resting upon the top surface of the ribbon, and binder warps crossing over and under the weft threads to bind them against the ribbons and lying between each two adjacent ribbons, each ribbon being formed of a paper strip folded upon itself longitudinally and held in folded condition by adhesive, the ribbons being of substantially oblong cross-section and lying with their wide faces. horizontal.

5. A pile fabric, which comprises a plurality of stuffer warp ribbons lying side by side in a plane, a plurality of stuffer warp yarns lying in a level above the ribbons, weft threads lying above the yarns, between the yarns and ribbons, and below the ribbons, binder warps binding the weft threads against the yarns and ribbons and lying between each two adjacent ribbons and between adjacent groups of stufl'er warp yarns, and pile yarns looped about weft threads lying between the stuffer warp yarns and the ribbons, the pile loops lying in longitudinal rows with the pile loops in each such row lying between stuifer yarns in each group, each ribbon lying beneath the pile loops in a single longitudinal row with the bights of the loops in said row resting upon the top surface of the ribbon, the ribbons being formed of a relatively stiff material, which is relatively non.-

deformable in cross-section, and being longer horizontally than vertically in cross-section.

GARFIELD J. UNDERWOOD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

